Programmers look at software they’re working on from the inside, but users look at it from the outside. This difference in perspective can lead to different views about what’s important – too often programmers can be consumed by the technical detail and lose sight of value to the end user. In fact, they too often … Continue reading Confusing user value with other things
Category: Covid19
Trends in UK Coronavirus cases, hospitalisations and deaths
A friend asked a question to do with Coronavirus that I couldn’t answer but I thought I should. So I got some data, did some calculations on it, and then worked out how to display it. The question was: how bad were hospitalisations and deaths from Coronavirus (in the UK) when the daily reported Coronavirus … Continue reading Trends in UK Coronavirus cases, hospitalisations and deaths
Sankey diagrams to explain Coronavirus and Covid19
There’s a kind of diagram, called a Sankey diagram, that can be used to show relationships between things. I will briefly introduce it, and then use one to illustrate Coronavirus and Covid19 in the UK. It will simplify things, but I hope will still help you get a better understanding of how the various numbers … Continue reading Sankey diagrams to explain Coronavirus and Covid19
Coronavirus, risk and software testing
I was catching up with old episodes of the Radiolab podcast, and one on Coronavirus and numbers made me think about risks to do with Coronavirus, and that thought expanded out to risk more generally and also how it can apply to software testing. UK Coronavirus numbers I need to prefix all this with quite … Continue reading Coronavirus, risk and software testing
Random numbers to protect privacy in a pandemic app
A computer system, like a car or a coffee machine, is something designed to meet some requirements. These requirements usually force the designer to make a compromise, based on which requirements get more attention than others. (Which is the best car? It depends on whether speed, size, sustainability etc. are most important to you.) One … Continue reading Random numbers to protect privacy in a pandemic app